30th Oct 2012. By Natasha Kim, CM –
Many young adults gathered at DUMC recently, hardly knowing what to expect from the dinner event called “Some Strings Attached”. The beauty of it however, was the fact that quite a number came to join in anyway from different Churches. Churches that came and were involved were namely SIBKL, DUMC, Eagle Point, Glad Tidings PJ, and PJEFC and many more.
Some Strings Attached is a forum that is held for the very first time and is organised by the Inter-Church Young Adults (ICYA). For those who do not know a forum is a public meeting where people come to listen and open up in discussion. Pastor Victor Wong from SIBKL was the host of the event, while the panelists included Josephine (Ex-Miss Hong Kong) and Kum Yuen (Josephine’s husband).
ICYA is a collaboration of 4 churches (DUMC, SIBKL, GTPJ & PJEFC) that seeks to bring single, young working adults together for a chance to connect, fellowship, meet and interact with people from other churches. Previously ICYA had an event called “The biggest loser” as well as “rock and roll singles” and many are already talking about it.
The event began at 6.45 p.m. with the registration of participants charging only a small fee of RM 15. This included a nice buffet dinner where all young adults were encouraged to sit together with groups of people they did not know in order to get to know new people. Then there was a fun ice-breaking session which included interesting questions for discussion. The questions included were, “What is the first thing you notice about a person?” and “If you had to give every human being one quality, what would it be and why?” These questions definitely broke the ice as everyone started warming up quickly to each other. One could see many smiles and laughter at each table.
After that session, everyone adjourned to Hall 2 where there was a question and answer session and a singing performance from Kevin Tai from TNCC, a worship and praise before the discussion began. There they talked about how to survive socially and about finding true intimacy in a fast-paced world. This particular topic is important because it is a big concern for young adults and it is one of the greatest needs among young adults thrust into the working world. Most relationships lack authenticity and depth. Though connected in cyberspace, the inner soul is still hungry – it yearns for even more connectedness. This is urban loneliness. When the guest panelists came up they were interviewed by Pastor Victor and were asked questions about their relationship and how Kum Yuen, a simple Christian man got together with Josephine, the Ex-Ms. Hong Kong.
There were a lot of important points that could be taken from the discussion, one of them is to guard ones heart before meeting the right person, that everyone before that “One” is just a brother and sister in Christ and should be treated as such. Gods timing will reveal everything and the right person especially when one is fulfilled and find solace in Him. Before meeting that person you want to marry, one will have many “crushes” but that will test your loyalty before you find the right one. When you meet someone, you will be emotionally charged with some fantasy and run ahead of God’s time for example putting his last name into your name. Everyone must be honest with their own feelings with God and ask the Holy Spirit to identify the motivating factor, whether you like him/her because they sing well or because of similar hobbies, because you see the attributes of Jesus or simply because you’re lonely. Once you identify the deeper reason why you are excited about that person, you can pray about it and ask Him what to do next.
The Lord will love you enough to tell you that He feels for you and show you what attracts you. At the same time, God will show you many people that you may like but there does not need to be a need to own him/her. You cannot be with everyone that you like. Josephine says, “There will be a good “One” if not this one. Guard your heart from fantasy, when you think ahead of time you might cloud your view and get yourself or the other person hurt and that is not natural. For everyone else, you must limit yourself before the right one comes or before you start your courtship.” Many other points were also discussed in groups before announcements were made before adjournment, a sharing of what each other learnt from the forum itself. Everyone was refreshed and received a sense of realisation from the forum. As the event ended at 10.30 p.m., one could see that everyone was excited to put into practice what they have heard and to continue on with their journey to walk closely with God.
For more information about more events like these or if you’re interested to take part, you can visit the collaborating Churches at their websites, http://www.sibkl.org.my/, http://www.dumc.com.my/, http://www.gladtidings.my/, or http://www.pjefc.org/.
